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| Forgot my hat, so the helmet had to do! |
“Winter is not just about skiing”. That’s what Jo-Ann told a reporter from the Hartford Courant who came to get some pictures of our 2015 New Year’s Day trip on the Tville section of the Farmington, and she was right. New Year’s Day runs are definitely a tradition around here, and some consider it bad luck if you are not out in your boat on January 1st.
This year I had the usually options for whitewater runs including the Upper and Lower Winni, Tville and Crystal. In the end, I decided to stay close to home and do a section of a river that I had not done before – the West River in Northbridge. Although Bill is not big on cold weather paddling (he has become more of a winter hiker), he agreed to paddle tandem with me.
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| The crew at Harrington Pool Picnic Area |
The West River is a 13-mile long tributary of the Blackstone River. It originates at Silver Lake in Grafton, and flows though Northbridge and Uxbridge before entering into the Blackstone south of Wheelockville (above Route 122) in Uxbridge. After devastating floods in the 1950’s, the Army Corps of Engineers constructed the West Hill Dam on the West River in 1960. The dam includes a 567-acre reserve upstream in the towns of Uxbridge, Northbridge and Upton.
We met 717 Mendon Road in Northbridge, and carted out boats down to the put in below the bridge. The river twists and turns through the backwaters of the West Hill Dam. We paddled about a mile down to the Harrington Pool Picnic Area. We talked about portaging over the street and down to the dam, but decided instead to find a sunny spot out of the wind and take a break. Then we headed back up stream to the put in. From there, most of the crew continued upstream of another mile, but Bill, Louise and I decided to call it a day. It was a fun and easy way to start the New Year, and just enough to guarantee good paddling mojo in 2020.
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| A pretty section of the West River |
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